I am grateful for this opportunity to share a message that I consider extremely important.

It is especially crucial for anyone who is of childbearing age. Recently in the news media there have been conflicting reports about the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

I have worked for more than 28 years in the substance abuse field and have followed the advisories of our surgeon generals, publications from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other national organizations about drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

The experts in this field of study have not been able to determine a safe amount of alcohol use during pregnancy and therefore recommend no alcohol consumption if you are pregnant or not using birth control.

An important piece of information that is not widely known comes from The Institute of Medicine’s 1996 Report to Congress, which states: “Of all the substances of abuse (including cocaine, heroin and marijuana), alcohol produces by far the most serious neuro-behavioral effects in the fetus.”

The bottom line С drinking alcohol while pregnant can cause permanent brain damage.

The good news is that Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders are completely preventable if a woman does not consume alcohol during her pregnancy.

Research is underway to learn more about the complex effects of alcohol on a fetus. Increased understanding may lead to improvements in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of FASD.

Although many questions remain unanswered, this much is clear: When a pregnant woman uses alcohol, her baby does too. That’s why abstaining from drinking throughout pregnancy and during breast-feeding is the best gift a mother can give her child С it is a gift that lasts a lifetime.

For more information visit utahfetalalcohol.org.

If you are interested in having a speaker address a mental health or substance abuse topic to your community group, please contact Davis Behavioral Health by sending an email to jills@dbhutah.org.